Adam Taurus
Adam Taurus is a major antagonist in the American animated webseries RWBY. He is a Faunus and a high-ranking member, later High Leader, of the White Fang. He seeks his own twisted view of justice for the Faunus, working as a terrorist to ensure the subjugation or eradication of humanity. He is also the mentor and ex-lover of Blake Belladonna. He was voiced by Garrett Hunter. Appearance Adam appears as a young adult male with red hair, his Faunus trait appears to be a pair of dark bull horns in his hair. His original outfit consists of black paints with black and red shoes, a red shirt under a black jacket with his symbol on the back and black gloves. Like almost all White Fang members, Adam wears a Grimm mask however his has red markings on it (though in his character short it was revealed that it did not originally have these markings). Following the timeskip after the fall of Beacon Adam's outfit changes to a black and gray shirt with zippers, the shirt also retains his symbol on the back, he retains the black gloves, black pants and the black and red shoes as well as his mask. However, his pants are lined with belts with what appears to be some sort of flag or sash held between two of them. Following Adam's exile from the White Fang he throws his mask away and replaces it with a black blindfold and in the episode "Argus Limited" he is shown wearing a black cloak while aboard the train. During his Fight with Blake in the outskirts of Argus he removes his blindfold revealing a normal looking right eye with a blue pupil while his left eye is red with a grey pupil, there is also a Schnee Dust Company (S.D.C) brand over his left eye (likely hinting that he was once used as Faunus labor). Personality Blake describes him as feeling completely justified in how he went about making the world a better place. However, his vision for a perfect future did not include everyone, and Blake began to believe that Adam himself was becoming a monster in the process of trying to obtain it. Unlike Blake, he is shown to have little regard for the lives of innocent people, as he planned to blow up the train with everyone on board. In "Beginning of the End", he takes his cause, and the lives of his underlings seriously, rejecting Cinder Fall's initial offer of an alliance, citing the unnecessary risk of dying for a human cause. It is also hinted that he dislikes Huntsmen, sardonically stating she could have gone to one who strayed from their "righteous path". However, after Cinder arrives a second time, this time with an offer of Dust and Lien as well as a dangerous death threat, Adam begrudgingly accepts her terms. Furthermore, in "The Next Step", Salem states that Adam has proven to be extremely loyal to her cause. In "Heroes and Monsters", Adam's ruthless personality comes to light. He is revealed to be an embittered, unsympathetic, sadistic and cruel man, willing to cut down any opposition towards his twisted ideas of justice being dispensed upon humanity. He takes great pleasure in tormenting Blake, taunting her by calling her "darling" or "my love" and ultimately promising to destroy everything she loves as punishment for her betrayal of the White Fang and, by extension, him. He exhibits extremely possessive and violent behavior. He is also extremely callous and merciless towards his enemies, slicing off Yang Xiao Long's arm with ease when she rushes him and even attempting to decapitate Blake when she appeared to stand between him and a crippled Yang. This characteristic is implied once more in "Of Runaways and Stowaways", when Lisa Lavender reports that all attempts to apprehend him are met with brutal force. Adam has also proven to be highly ambitious and purposeful, as shown when he discloses to Sienna Khan, the White Fang's High Leader, that he wishes to start a war with humanity and enslave them, before usurping and killing her within the same moment. He expresses delight in taking over and feels no remorse in killing Sienna for it, something Hazel berates him for. Fennec Albain has noted that Adam's behavior has become increasingly impulsive and unstable in his obsession to punish Blake Belladonna for her perceived betrayal of the White Fang. This was observed when he ordered the assassination of her parents despite the possibility of it alienating the citizens of Menagerie against his leadership due to her father Ghira Belladonna's position as Chieftain of the small nation state. When Adam is confronted by his plans failing with Blake assembling her own army of Faunus to stop him along with getting the Mistral Police Department to aid her, Adam breaks down into anger and attacks Blake without any plan for concentration and even orders his men to fire on the crowd despite being outnumbered showing how Adam is too arrogant to admit defeat and would rather die fighting when he tried detonating the explosives knowing that he would be killed in the process. In "Haven's Fate", Adam is revealed to show signs of egomania, narcissism, and/or arrogance when he bragged on how Blake needed others to fight for her, but was shocked and outraged when she said that she only came to Haven for her friends and not him. Adam lashed out and when he saw that his entire plan had failed, he fled Haven Academy to avoid capture in the same way Blake ran away when Beacon Academy had fallen. Blake let him run to make him know how it feels to run away and Ilia said that Adam's retreat would lead to his downfall revealing that he isn't the rightful leader to the White Fang and that he'd lose all of his allies due to his volatile nature. In his Character Short, it is revealed that Adam was shown to originally be a righteous warrior who was honestly fighting to make life better for the Faunus, when he accidentally killed a racist that was about to attack Ghira, he did show remorse over the act, and expressed shock when his comrades hailed him as a hero. It's revealed that it was through Sienna Khan's influence that Adam began killing more frequently and willingly. As revealed in "The Lady in the Shoe", Adam's obsession is due to the fact that in his eyes, she hurt him more than any Human ever did. As instead of leaving scars, she left him alone in the world (hinting to a lonely childhood) and his goal was to make her feel that exact same emotion. In "Seeing Red", Adam's obsessive need for revenge becomes his downfall. As despite losing Wilt, exhausted, outnumbered and his Aura shattered, he still tries to kill Blake out of sheer spite, leading her and Yang to finally kill him in self-defence. Powers and Abilities Adam's abilities and skills seem to be on par with that of a highly skilled Huntsman. He is adept in swordsmanship, quickly cutting through Atlesian Knight-130s with ease. He has a preference towards the usage of "Iaido", a method in Japanese sword fighting that involves quickly unsheathing for a rapid attack and then sheathing again. He has been shown in the trailer to be able to slash at enemies that are seemingly out of his blade's range, implying that he either moved there and back quickly or somehow extended the range of his blade. When he used Wilt to open the train car roof hatch, he moved so quickly that his strike was almost invisible to the human eye. He will also occasionally use Blush for ranged attacks in conjunction with Wilt. Furthermore, Adam's speed is shown to enable him to deflect numerous bullets in rapid succession with Wilt and Blush. Like Blake, Adam appears to have advanced endurance, showing no signs of fatigue during an extended battle. Adam is able to absorb or block the energy from an enemy attack and re-emit it again, usually with his sword. When absorbing attacks or shortly before striking back, the details on his body appear to glow red. When he attacks, the color appears to drain from the world and everything turns red and black. This move apparently requires some preparation, as he tells Blake to buy him some time before he is able to perform it. When he uses this ability, red rose petals are shown floating in the air, symbolizing his theme of "wilt". In "Heroes and Monsters", his first strike against Yang is so powerful that it both breaks through her Aura and completely severs her arm, all in a single hit. However, the power of this technique may depend on how much energy he absorbs with his sword. Adam had taken two hits fired by Blake before attacking Yang, while he had absorbed a continuous beam of energy from the spider robot in the "Black Trailer" before disintegrating it. Aside from his combat abilities, Adam is also an assertive and charismatic leader. Sienna even describes him as a symbol for many in the White Fang in "Dread in the Air". In "Breach", he assures Cinder's faction that the White Fang will listen to him despite the prior events, and in both Volume 4 and "Dread in the Air", Adam is able to gain enough support from many branches of the White Fang, including Sienna's personal bodyguards, to help him overthrow her and become high leader himself. However, his leadership abilities are shown to be progressively compromised by his increasingly unstable personality, making costly decisions to sate his personal vendettas. Quotes }} Trivia *In Hebrew, Adam (אדם) means "Man" and Adom (אדום) means "Red". It is likely that Adam's name is a play on these two words. Adam is also known in Abrahamic religions as the first man created, possibly referencing the fact that he is the first male character to appear. *Adam Taurus alludes to the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This allusion has had the following influences on the character and show: **In the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast/Prince's name is Adam. **His emblem is a wilting rose. In the fairy tale, the curse placed on the Beast would become permanent when the wilting rose he possessed lost its last petal. *Adam's last name, Taurus, is a Latin word meaning bull. **His mask has two red horn-shaped markings similar to that of a bull. *In the Japanese dubbed version, Adam is voiced by Yūichi Nakamura, who also voiced Muramasa, Yuuki Terumi and Gai Tsutsugami. *Despite being a protagonist in his first appearance, Adam is the first antagonist in the series. *Likewise, Adam is both the first male character and the first character in the series to speak. *Adam's sword is based on Kagura's sword from Ga-Rei: Zero. *Adam Taurus can be seen as a foil to Blake. While Blake genuinely wishes for peace between the humans and the Faunus, Adam Taurus seeks to get revenge on them and ended up becoming what he despised about them. **Ilia Amitola likewise is also another foil for Adam. As both of them have mutual feelings towards Blake. The only main difference that she has no signs of resentment or grudge towards Blake, and eventually redeemed herself towards the end of Volume 5 once realizing the errors of White Fang. Adam, on the other hand, will go in petty lengths to make Blake and her loved ones suffer for abandoning him. **Ironically, he is also an antithesis to Yang herself. In addition to both having possessing a similar Semblance, both of them have permanent scars - Adam has the SDC logo branded on his left eye, whereas Yang loses a right arm, which happens to be Adam's doing. Both of them are connected to Blake - Adam sees Blake as a possession that he constantly abuses on, while Yang and Blake are partners who watch each others' backs. *Adam underwent a character re-design sometime during the development of the "Black" Trailer. In the behind-the-scenes footage released by RWBY animator Shane Newville on his Vine account, Adam's original model can be seen. Adam's original model lacks his signature long coat, instead having a black, short-sleeved top with a combat vest, cargo pants and combat boots. His sword, Wilt, originally had a black blade that glowed orange when making strikes, and was carried diagonally across his back. *Adam's goals reflect similar ones from certain groups in America in the 2010s, claiming a desire for equal rights, when they truly seek superiority. *Adam's death in Volume 6 is not only karmic, but if anything, ironic in two ways: **In "Heroes and Monsters", he singlehandedly defeated both Blake and Yang. In "Seeing Red", the girls turn things around with Blake and Yang simultaneously stabbed Adam with the shattered remains of Gambol Shroud. **The way he murdered Sienna Khan has him impaling her with his sword, Wilt. In his last stand against Blake and Yang, they use the broken pieces of Gambol Shroud to stab him from the front and back. External links * . 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